Commission urges investors to regularise multiple accounts

• Fixes December 31 as deadline

Acting Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Mary Uduk, has enjoined capital market investors that bought shares with different names to regularise their accounts to derive full benefit of their investments. 
   
This is even as the Capital Market Committee (CMC), extended the forbearance for multiple subscription regularisation to December 31st, to enable investors normalise their accounts. Uduk, who spoke at a news conference after the Second CMC Meeting in Lagos, at the weekend, said: “During the banking and insurance sector consolidation between 2004 and 2007, there were a lot of issues in the primary market because the banks or insurance companies came to the market to raise funds. And during that period, because a lot of people were coming to the capital market for the first time, they saw the capital market as a place where they can make a lot of money so a lot of them bought shares in different names.  
   
“Today, those shares are not in the system, because if you are unable to identify yourself properly those shares cannot be properly captured in the system. We are saying come and regularise that situation and get back your shares which are being warehoused somewhere. 

We also devised to constitute a Market-wide Financial Technology (FINTECH) Committee, to develop a FINTECH framework for the Nigerian Capital Market,” she said.The SEC boss expressed delight that the Nigerian capital market within the quarter under review witnessed some achievements in various segments of its operations. These achievements, she said, validate the continuous efforts of all market participants, and include aggressive use of various social media platforms to boost financial literacy campaigns such as the creation and deployment of a one minute Financial Literacy video on YouTube.
   
Others are the renovation of five warehouses by the Nigerian Commodities Exchange (NCX), in preparation for commodities trading; the conclusion of about 30 cases at the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST), from a backlog of over 50 cases. Also noteworthy are the commencement of modalities to introduce the Investments and Securities Tribunal Law Reports, and the Implementation of the Recommendations of the Commodities Trading Ecosystem in phases, from 2018 to 2025.She also announced the increase in the number of shareholders who have mandated their accounts for eDividend payments to 2.55million.